Conventional wireless peripheral communication protocol, e.g., between a keyboard and a host computer system, is weighted more heavily on the host system (also called the “receiver”). That is to say, the peripheral device (also called the “transmitter”) does not have many responsibilities in order to reduce its power consumption since usually the peripheral device is battery powered. Furthermore, when the peripheral device is not performing its responsibilities, it typically reverts to a low power state or sleep mode. It is noted that many peripherals now offer displays, wherein the host system typically transmit information to the peripheral for display.
One of the problems with this system is enabling the host system to signal the peripheral that information or data is available for receipt while the peripheral is in a sleep mode. One solution has the peripheral periodically polling the host system for data, but this consumes too much power. Also, this solution introduces a new command (header) into the wireless peripheral communication protocol. Currently, the number of commands used provides good Hamming Distance between the nodes of the spread spectrum communication and this offers good noise rejection. However, introduction of a new command may lead to decreased noise rejection. Also, another disadvantage of this solution is that it is not backwards compatible with existing peripherals.
As such, it is desirable to address one or more of the above issues.